Good job there are still plenty of weeks to go for summer, still time for the weather to pick up. Someone said to me this week that the long range forecast said that we are in for more of the same over the next month, so watch out for the heat-wave. There is not much we can do about the weather so no point getting too stressed out but it is affecting a lot of sectors in horticulture so don’t forget to keep supporting everyone. The soft fruit boys and girls are having huge quality problems with all the wind and rain and as usual getting little sympathy from the supermarkets but we need to keep buying their stuff or they will be in even more trouble. Make the most of purchases by eating ASAP before the quality takes a dive then pop in later in the week for another punnet. English raspberries in store now, my favourite, best eaten with cold dark chocolate, all part of my 5 a day.
Another tour party this week with a local farmers group of 50 or so for a quick look at the nursery, lab and turbines. As our weeny wind installation is still the biggest in Hampshire the novelty is yet to wear off. Followed up the tour with a hog roast BBQ on the farm, contributing nothing to my 5 a day but satisfying the meat consuming hunter in me.
Big news in the local paper last week with a plan proposed to put up 17 big turbines fairly locally, the usual fuss and panic was reported in the blurb, although during the week the overall reaction seems surprisingly positive which is nice to see. The usual knee jerk reactions where there with questions about whether the turbines would ever save enough CO2 to cover their own manufacture (ours will in just 15 months use) and when electric demand is at its highest the wind doesn’t blow (assuming the highest demand is when we have a frosty, still, high pressure system parked on top of us). Having come through our first winter and been involved in TRIAD charges which are applied to high users and generators for the 3 peak half hour consumption periods of the winter, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we generated at high rates on all three occasions with just 3kWhr consumed where our own use was slightly higher than power we generated for one of the periods. I am guessing that this is because the highest demand (always between 16.30 and 18.30 on a cold winters evening) is not just when it is cold but windy and possibly wet too. A cold wet wind will remove heat from buildings much quicker than cold alone. I must try and squeeze in a few more tours for the locals so they can get up close and personal and look at the turbines too!
Feeling very sorry for the Isle of Wight festival goers this weekend, having taken so long to get them on site, it is likely to take forever to get them off again as it has been raining again overnight. They are going to be cold, wet and very tired but hopefully having enjoyed some good times. We did our more civilised bit by attending the opening of the King Somborne music and beer festival on Friday night in the village hall. Organised by the ‘Somborne Sessions’ we have a brilliant night watching Virgil and the Accelerators who were fantastic and very loud. I bet they don’t get many gigs where members of the audience are waltzing around the floor to raucous blues rock. Had a quiet day yesterday recovering from the beer sampling of the night before, feeling nearly human today.
Caroline feeling a bit less encumbered now as her arm cast came off this week, but she is still a bit crocked as it will take a while for things to settle down and work properly again. I think there was an expectation that all would be normal when the cast came off but she still can’t get her socks on. Good job, touch wood, my back is ok otherwise we would both be naked from the ankle down! Could be worse.
Eco News
Windy week, already 25% up on June estimate with 7 days to go.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address.
Monday, 25 June 2012
Monday, 18 June 2012
Another tough week on the weather front. A couple of nice days and some not so good for getting those plants sold. After weeks of hoping for a recovery to save the spring sales forecasts we have just about given up on much claw back now, we will just have to do the best we can for the rest of the summer and knuckle down to making next year a more productive one. Luckily we have already made quite a few savings to help the cash flow, lower electric and water bills, less labour used and reduced production and distribution costs by selling and producing less. We have scaled back many of the ideas we had been hoping to implement this summer to help on production efficiencies as we just haven’t the cash to see it all through now but there are still a few projects we will pursue.
One sad event this year will be dropping out of Investors in People which has come up for its regular review this winter. Although we do like the piece of paper saying how sensibly we look after each other here, we just can’t really afford such a costly rubber stamp at this time. I’ve never been very good at following rules and o ther peoples ‘standards’ anyway, I like the freedom to do what I feel is right, getting recognition for going in an approved direction was nice for everyone but we can do just as well without it. We already have our next plan in place for making more of our working day with a series of workshops for everyone here on Lean Management. This is something we have implemented in parts for a while into our production processes but not something we have supplied training on for everyone. The tricky bit for implementing many updated ideas into an establish workplace is getting everyone thinking along the same lines and we have never had the spare dosh to afford a course for everyone. However we have been offered this for free under a government funded training initiative for NVQ’s, it just costs us the time off production which we will hopefully make back. All the work is done on site and will be very practical and relevant so not too scary for anyone. One great thing at the moment is the awareness of everyone here to the difficult year we are all having so we have a good positive approach to this all round, let’s see how we all feel after the introduction to the course which is being given in over the next couple of weeks.
I had my quarterly therapy session at our NBIS (Nursery Business Insolvency Scheme, I mean Improvement), everyone has seen a shocker of a spring, although one or two have done ok if their main season was early enough. We had a good session with lots of positive input although there was no free money available at the end to share out which was a shame because that’s what we could all do with!
A group from the local WI came round for a turbine trip on Friday, a fantastic breezy day and a lovely tour. I surprised myself (but not others) at how long I could waffle on for on anything remotely connected to our three little generators. They were all blown away by it all (pun intended) and left behind a perfect WI memento of cake, scones and jam of which there is unfortunately none left for staff coffee on Monday!
Eco News
I’ve been doing a bit of predator redistribution this morning, hovering up a few of the tiny frogs that have started to emerge from the pond. I’m sure it won’t make a huge difference to anything really but just thought it might save a few getting picked off before they made it into the tunnels. I never get over how tiny they are when they first come out yet how far they can jump for their size. I’m easily impressed. There are still plenty of tadpoles in there so we look like getting quite a good crop this year, they must love this weather, good job some things are benefiting.
Turbines passed their June estimate today (17th) so will make up a bit by the month end on the quiet February and March periods.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address.
One sad event this year will be dropping out of Investors in People which has come up for its regular review this winter. Although we do like the piece of paper saying how sensibly we look after each other here, we just can’t really afford such a costly rubber stamp at this time. I’ve never been very good at following rules and o ther peoples ‘standards’ anyway, I like the freedom to do what I feel is right, getting recognition for going in an approved direction was nice for everyone but we can do just as well without it. We already have our next plan in place for making more of our working day with a series of workshops for everyone here on Lean Management. This is something we have implemented in parts for a while into our production processes but not something we have supplied training on for everyone. The tricky bit for implementing many updated ideas into an establish workplace is getting everyone thinking along the same lines and we have never had the spare dosh to afford a course for everyone. However we have been offered this for free under a government funded training initiative for NVQ’s, it just costs us the time off production which we will hopefully make back. All the work is done on site and will be very practical and relevant so not too scary for anyone. One great thing at the moment is the awareness of everyone here to the difficult year we are all having so we have a good positive approach to this all round, let’s see how we all feel after the introduction to the course which is being given in over the next couple of weeks.
I had my quarterly therapy session at our NBIS (Nursery Business Insolvency Scheme, I mean Improvement), everyone has seen a shocker of a spring, although one or two have done ok if their main season was early enough. We had a good session with lots of positive input although there was no free money available at the end to share out which was a shame because that’s what we could all do with!
A group from the local WI came round for a turbine trip on Friday, a fantastic breezy day and a lovely tour. I surprised myself (but not others) at how long I could waffle on for on anything remotely connected to our three little generators. They were all blown away by it all (pun intended) and left behind a perfect WI memento of cake, scones and jam of which there is unfortunately none left for staff coffee on Monday!
Eco News
I’ve been doing a bit of predator redistribution this morning, hovering up a few of the tiny frogs that have started to emerge from the pond. I’m sure it won’t make a huge difference to anything really but just thought it might save a few getting picked off before they made it into the tunnels. I never get over how tiny they are when they first come out yet how far they can jump for their size. I’m easily impressed. There are still plenty of tadpoles in there so we look like getting quite a good crop this year, they must love this weather, good job some things are benefiting.
Turbines passed their June estimate today (17th) so will make up a bit by the month end on the quiet February and March periods.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address.
Monday, 11 June 2012
Plenty of weather again this week. Very strong winds for a couple of days did push the turbines around well but did rip a lot of leaves from the poplar windbreak. June is one of the three quietest months for wind on average but we had our second windiest day of the year followed by the fifth, not that I’m getting obsessive about recording these things! Luckily we seemed to miss the worst of the rain although it was hardly perfect gardening weather. Hopefully the holiday mood carried people into a buying frenzy although we are passed hoping to recover from the disappointing spring. We can just move on from this moment hoping that the weather is kinder and the positive atmosphere of the Jubilee and the Olympic touch relay keeps building through the summer.
Even the Euro football has got off to an entertaining start although we have to wait until Monday to see our boys do their thing. I was quite impressed that our chaps have been mixing a bit more with their local environment and even doing some serious historical visits with their trip to Auschwitz. I’m not sure how it will affect their playing but it can be a very valuable experience to see a bit of recent dramatic history to make anyone appreciate how lucky we are to be living in these times, despite all the current issues. Those footballers certainly live in a bonkers world but then most of us live in quite a limited environment really. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you are getting what you need out of it.
We support quite a few local fetes through the summer each year but this week saw a first with the cancellation of one, in advance, due to the high winds and poor weekend forecast. I suspect that the big marquee they use couldn’t be safely put up in Friday’s winds, so no weather-proof cover to help out over the two day event. I have also heard that generally fete donations from contributors are harder to come by this summer with the tough times, which is understandable although I suspect our plant donations/offers are a bit bigger with our reduced sales providing extra suitable fete stock. At least someone is benefiting from our misfortune. Besides we will often get a lovely response from the organisers too which makes us feel good, and we all just want to be loved really! Who needs money? That reminds me, we have had a request this week to make an appointment to see the bank manager to review the season, oops.
Eco News
Lots of power produced from the turbines this week and next week looks ok for a bit more, but hopefully for sales not too much. We have Sparsholt WI coming to have a look at them on Friday, the forecast looks ok for wind for the moment I just hope it’s not too wet.
Huge numbers of fledgling birds all over the place this week, sparrows, tits, starlings, wagtails, finches, jackdaws. The native hedge we planted around the nursery 12 years ago is awash with tweeting and looks a picture as the dog rose is just beginning to bloom. It’s a shame we can’t make a living out of growing a lovely hedge. Last winter we planted a few islands of native hedging at some of the tunnel ends where we could fit them in and where they were a bit of a distance to the big hedge.
These should provide overwintering sites for some of our predators we introduce into the tunnels although it will be a year or two before they are a decent size. They are growing away well at the moment.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Even the Euro football has got off to an entertaining start although we have to wait until Monday to see our boys do their thing. I was quite impressed that our chaps have been mixing a bit more with their local environment and even doing some serious historical visits with their trip to Auschwitz. I’m not sure how it will affect their playing but it can be a very valuable experience to see a bit of recent dramatic history to make anyone appreciate how lucky we are to be living in these times, despite all the current issues. Those footballers certainly live in a bonkers world but then most of us live in quite a limited environment really. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you are getting what you need out of it.
We support quite a few local fetes through the summer each year but this week saw a first with the cancellation of one, in advance, due to the high winds and poor weekend forecast. I suspect that the big marquee they use couldn’t be safely put up in Friday’s winds, so no weather-proof cover to help out over the two day event. I have also heard that generally fete donations from contributors are harder to come by this summer with the tough times, which is understandable although I suspect our plant donations/offers are a bit bigger with our reduced sales providing extra suitable fete stock. At least someone is benefiting from our misfortune. Besides we will often get a lovely response from the organisers too which makes us feel good, and we all just want to be loved really! Who needs money? That reminds me, we have had a request this week to make an appointment to see the bank manager to review the season, oops.
Eco News
Lots of power produced from the turbines this week and next week looks ok for a bit more, but hopefully for sales not too much. We have Sparsholt WI coming to have a look at them on Friday, the forecast looks ok for wind for the moment I just hope it’s not too wet.
Huge numbers of fledgling birds all over the place this week, sparrows, tits, starlings, wagtails, finches, jackdaws. The native hedge we planted around the nursery 12 years ago is awash with tweeting and looks a picture as the dog rose is just beginning to bloom. It’s a shame we can’t make a living out of growing a lovely hedge. Last winter we planted a few islands of native hedging at some of the tunnel ends where we could fit them in and where they were a bit of a distance to the big hedge.
These should provide overwintering sites for some of our predators we introduce into the tunnels although it will be a year or two before they are a decent size. They are growing away well at the moment.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Sunday, 3 June 2012
Morning all,
Happy Jubilee to all.
Managed to squeeze in a fantastic street party and barn dance yesterday evening after a hectic day doing yet more improvements to the irrigation plumbing. It was held in Strawberry Lane, Up Somborne just down the road, where we tucked into a hog roast and jelly and ice cream. Delicious. Kept warm and wore off some of the calories at the barn dance which was very jolly. Never quite sure about barn dances myself but once you start it is great laugh, just don’t take anything too seriously!
Bit cool & showery today but not as bad as predicted. I hope Queeny gets some dry spells for her turn on the river this afternoon. With a bit of luck she will enjoy it all as much as she did her day at the races yesterday. I bet she’s looking forward to the concert on Monday, she can’t even slip away early as there are all those beacons to light afterwards. It’s great to see such a positive reaction to it all, let’s hope it keeps gaining momentum throughout the summer with all the fab summer events going on and spills over into a bit of garden purchasing as well.
I got my left handed jubilee hair cut yesterday. My Boris Johnson look was getting hard to manage but a quick whizz over with the clippers did the trick. Luckily my sight is failing and I can’t see round the back but there were not too many ‘whoops’ during the exercise so I don’t feel any more self conscious than usual.
Nursery life continues to bowl along, loads to do and lots of orders to send out. This coming week is going to be interesting with only 3 proper working days in it. We are going to have a small crew in on Tuesday to make a start on things but depending on how things go we may need to extend deliveries over into Saturday if demand is high. Having such a long weekend is very disorientating, I feel like I can get lots done as there are so few distractions , but there is no getting away from the fact that having 20 people not on site for two days makes a dent on the list of achievements likely to be completed this week.
I’m doing a delivery to Eden on Monday so looking forward to that now I have discovered the wonders of their ace bakery. I hope they are baking on the bank holiday. After the last trip we overdosed on breads and scones all week. I will try not to get carried away this time, although I all ready have some other bread orders to add to our own. Great bread and a nice beer, doesn’t take much to please me. Good job, after the career choice I made and after this spring I may have to forgo the beer.
Eco News
Turbines are all going again, touch wood. The engineers arrived on Wednesday as planned in near perfect conditions for taking down the tower and replacing the broken part. Everything was back up and plugged in by the end of the day and the wind picked up instantly to test it out.
Latest batch of bio-controls came in this week. At least the weather is now a bit more insect friendly to help get them get established and keep on top of many of the pests.
One pest we have had trouble with this year is pigeons. They seem to have taken a fancy to the foliage of several plants. Aquilegia, phlox and wild rocket seem particularly popular, over a couple of days they come in and strip off the foliage. It took a while to identify the culprits, we suspected mice and rabbits first but we have now nailed the blame on the pigeon. Now we will have to work on a strategy to combat them.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Happy Jubilee to all.
Managed to squeeze in a fantastic street party and barn dance yesterday evening after a hectic day doing yet more improvements to the irrigation plumbing. It was held in Strawberry Lane, Up Somborne just down the road, where we tucked into a hog roast and jelly and ice cream. Delicious. Kept warm and wore off some of the calories at the barn dance which was very jolly. Never quite sure about barn dances myself but once you start it is great laugh, just don’t take anything too seriously!
Bit cool & showery today but not as bad as predicted. I hope Queeny gets some dry spells for her turn on the river this afternoon. With a bit of luck she will enjoy it all as much as she did her day at the races yesterday. I bet she’s looking forward to the concert on Monday, she can’t even slip away early as there are all those beacons to light afterwards. It’s great to see such a positive reaction to it all, let’s hope it keeps gaining momentum throughout the summer with all the fab summer events going on and spills over into a bit of garden purchasing as well.
I got my left handed jubilee hair cut yesterday. My Boris Johnson look was getting hard to manage but a quick whizz over with the clippers did the trick. Luckily my sight is failing and I can’t see round the back but there were not too many ‘whoops’ during the exercise so I don’t feel any more self conscious than usual.
Nursery life continues to bowl along, loads to do and lots of orders to send out. This coming week is going to be interesting with only 3 proper working days in it. We are going to have a small crew in on Tuesday to make a start on things but depending on how things go we may need to extend deliveries over into Saturday if demand is high. Having such a long weekend is very disorientating, I feel like I can get lots done as there are so few distractions , but there is no getting away from the fact that having 20 people not on site for two days makes a dent on the list of achievements likely to be completed this week.
I’m doing a delivery to Eden on Monday so looking forward to that now I have discovered the wonders of their ace bakery. I hope they are baking on the bank holiday. After the last trip we overdosed on breads and scones all week. I will try not to get carried away this time, although I all ready have some other bread orders to add to our own. Great bread and a nice beer, doesn’t take much to please me. Good job, after the career choice I made and after this spring I may have to forgo the beer.
Eco News
Turbines are all going again, touch wood. The engineers arrived on Wednesday as planned in near perfect conditions for taking down the tower and replacing the broken part. Everything was back up and plugged in by the end of the day and the wind picked up instantly to test it out.
Latest batch of bio-controls came in this week. At least the weather is now a bit more insect friendly to help get them get established and keep on top of many of the pests.
One pest we have had trouble with this year is pigeons. They seem to have taken a fancy to the foliage of several plants. Aquilegia, phlox and wild rocket seem particularly popular, over a couple of days they come in and strip off the foliage. It took a while to identify the culprits, we suspected mice and rabbits first but we have now nailed the blame on the pigeon. Now we will have to work on a strategy to combat them.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Sunday, 20 May 2012
At last a little bit of more spring like weather, it was a lovely day here today, great for the Sparsholt College next door to have their annual countryside day. Tomorrow looks less joyful but they are promising warmer weather again next week so let’s hope we all build up a bit of momentum on the sales front.
Sometimes it is tempting to pretend everything is ok, to put up a brave front and try not to give the impression of poor performance and panic, but this spring has been a shocker and it is the same for lots of horticulture based businesses so we are not alone. There is not a lot we can do with such a poor run of weather other than face up to things and get stuck in and make the best of it. It is not just the businesses that suffer but the employees too. We are not a well paid industry generally and the loss of all the spring overtime will be quite a hit to many, good job we enjoy what we do so much! A good friend of ours with a small local retail outlet has faced up to the troubled spring with a full on advertising programme this week with the headlines ‘Horticulture in Crisis, help out by getting down here and buying some plants’. Stunningly upfront and honest is our Roger and it may well work. I can’t wait for his ice cream parlour to open, a yummy complimentary outlet to his great tea room and craft centre.
So here we are at a moment in time, the past few weeks are behind us and the future is ahead. Getting upset or cross about what has happened isn’t going to help and can make things a lot worse. The knock on effect of a grumpy outlook only knocks back everyone else around you when they are probably only a short step from grumpiness themselves. I try to pick on a few positives to get my brain pumping out the right hormones and get me out of bed and off to a good start. If I make it upright from the bed without putting my back out, the turbines are turning when I draw back the curtains, the tea bag goes straight in the cup from the other side of the table, I pour the juice in the glass and not on the cereal, the cat hasn’t pooped in the tray, life’s full of little plusses when you look.
I did a bit of NLP training a few years ago and one of the exercises I had to do was to list a few things I had done that I was proud of or pleased with, big or tiny, from today or from the distant past, it didn’t matter. As I was unprepared for the question it took a while to think of much to write down and just as I got into a flow he stopped me. I then had to get a notebook to keep by my bed and each night I was to write one positive or groovy thing I had done. After a year or two you would have a book full of ace facts and whenever you woke up in the morning feeling a little down then you could turn to the book and it helps you remember lots of good stuff about yourself. It’s just chemistry really, the brain releases different chemicals when stimulated by good stuff, it can act like a switch and turn the start of the day from going down to going up. It worked for me, I just have to catch sight of the note book (I got one with quite a distinctive cover) by the bed, the hair stand up on the back of my neck and I get a boost. Now I’m not the sharpest tool in the box, I never actually got round to writing anything in the book, but an empty notebook still works as a trigger for better thoughts for me.
Great pictures from Cornwall this morning of the Olympic torch relay, it’s lovely to see people get so excited about carrying a small gas canister 300m. I hope the positive mood keeps growing, the jubilee isn’t far away and there will be lots to cheer about all summer long. Hurrah. I see the first torch went on Ebay today for £3,250. Bargain.
Eco News
Cold weather has slowed up the biological controls a bit, we have just released our third input of a wide range of predators and my beetle breeding bucket seems to contain quite a lot of life, whether it is all the right sort I’m not all together sure. I will keep up the weekly feeding and we will see if they keep the pest numbers down.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Sometimes it is tempting to pretend everything is ok, to put up a brave front and try not to give the impression of poor performance and panic, but this spring has been a shocker and it is the same for lots of horticulture based businesses so we are not alone. There is not a lot we can do with such a poor run of weather other than face up to things and get stuck in and make the best of it. It is not just the businesses that suffer but the employees too. We are not a well paid industry generally and the loss of all the spring overtime will be quite a hit to many, good job we enjoy what we do so much! A good friend of ours with a small local retail outlet has faced up to the troubled spring with a full on advertising programme this week with the headlines ‘Horticulture in Crisis, help out by getting down here and buying some plants’. Stunningly upfront and honest is our Roger and it may well work. I can’t wait for his ice cream parlour to open, a yummy complimentary outlet to his great tea room and craft centre.
So here we are at a moment in time, the past few weeks are behind us and the future is ahead. Getting upset or cross about what has happened isn’t going to help and can make things a lot worse. The knock on effect of a grumpy outlook only knocks back everyone else around you when they are probably only a short step from grumpiness themselves. I try to pick on a few positives to get my brain pumping out the right hormones and get me out of bed and off to a good start. If I make it upright from the bed without putting my back out, the turbines are turning when I draw back the curtains, the tea bag goes straight in the cup from the other side of the table, I pour the juice in the glass and not on the cereal, the cat hasn’t pooped in the tray, life’s full of little plusses when you look.
I did a bit of NLP training a few years ago and one of the exercises I had to do was to list a few things I had done that I was proud of or pleased with, big or tiny, from today or from the distant past, it didn’t matter. As I was unprepared for the question it took a while to think of much to write down and just as I got into a flow he stopped me. I then had to get a notebook to keep by my bed and each night I was to write one positive or groovy thing I had done. After a year or two you would have a book full of ace facts and whenever you woke up in the morning feeling a little down then you could turn to the book and it helps you remember lots of good stuff about yourself. It’s just chemistry really, the brain releases different chemicals when stimulated by good stuff, it can act like a switch and turn the start of the day from going down to going up. It worked for me, I just have to catch sight of the note book (I got one with quite a distinctive cover) by the bed, the hair stand up on the back of my neck and I get a boost. Now I’m not the sharpest tool in the box, I never actually got round to writing anything in the book, but an empty notebook still works as a trigger for better thoughts for me.
Great pictures from Cornwall this morning of the Olympic torch relay, it’s lovely to see people get so excited about carrying a small gas canister 300m. I hope the positive mood keeps growing, the jubilee isn’t far away and there will be lots to cheer about all summer long. Hurrah. I see the first torch went on Ebay today for £3,250. Bargain.
Eco News
Cold weather has slowed up the biological controls a bit, we have just released our third input of a wide range of predators and my beetle breeding bucket seems to contain quite a lot of life, whether it is all the right sort I’m not all together sure. I will keep up the weekly feeding and we will see if they keep the pest numbers down.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 14 May 2012
At last a lovely sunny weekend, still a nip in the air this morning but lovely gardening weather. Let’s hope this gets things moving after the poor run of weather most of us have suffered from. I keep catching bits on the news that horticulture is suffering so we may get a small sympathy vote to help us along the way. It’s at times like this that you hold on to any little signs of hope you can see, after all it can’t get any worse can it? Last week was boosted by the great thank you card we got from the local school, the thought of a nice long bank holiday weekend, and the prospect of the turbine man getting all three going in unison on Wednesday.
Had a lovely break, literally. Spent half of Sunday in casualty after Caroline took a tumble in a garden where we were delivering a big cat pen as a favour to a local cat charity. A change of route for carrying a bulky part across the patio and a failure to complete a valid manual handling assessment of the new path, resulted in a fairly innocuous backward sit down and the appearance of a second elbow near the wrist, ouch. No mention yet of the fact that I was pushing on the other end of the load! Anyway, she was patched up on Sunday in time to complete the VAT return in the afternoon and returned on Monday to have it ‘realigned’. This involved a strong dose of ketamine and a team of staff to pull it straight and rematch up the bone ends. It all went really well and the post pull x-rays showed a really good result. Back this Monday for a full cast now the swelling has subsided. She has coped really well although it is only when you become slightly disabled that you realise how much you need all your bits to work well to cope with ‘normal’ life. I am now a dab hand at pulling on socks, slicing up and carrying stuff. Things are taking a bit longer especially as it was her right arm, but she gets there in the end and a couple of extra hours at work means she still manages to get through most of the jobs! Apparently doing things with your left hand improves brain activity and helps stave off senility, if only I had known earlier.
The engineer’s turbine visit went well too. He recalibrated the anemometer on the troublesome third turbine and that seems to have sorted that out at last, but during his inspection of the turbine nearest the house he found a fault which has meant he had to turn it off while they sort out a repair. No word yet on how long this will take but they are trying to rush it through. At least with having three, when one goes down we are still generating from the others but it is frustrating. I wondered whether to suggest that the problem might be in the cables to all three being just too short. When they repair one they pull the cable a bit and it pulls the plug out of the other, which is why only two out of three ever seem to run. I know a lot about turbines me.
Eco News
After years of having an artificial house martins nest on the house which was used every year by house sparrows nesting on top of, it is currently occupied by its first pair of house martins, hurrah.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Had a lovely break, literally. Spent half of Sunday in casualty after Caroline took a tumble in a garden where we were delivering a big cat pen as a favour to a local cat charity. A change of route for carrying a bulky part across the patio and a failure to complete a valid manual handling assessment of the new path, resulted in a fairly innocuous backward sit down and the appearance of a second elbow near the wrist, ouch. No mention yet of the fact that I was pushing on the other end of the load! Anyway, she was patched up on Sunday in time to complete the VAT return in the afternoon and returned on Monday to have it ‘realigned’. This involved a strong dose of ketamine and a team of staff to pull it straight and rematch up the bone ends. It all went really well and the post pull x-rays showed a really good result. Back this Monday for a full cast now the swelling has subsided. She has coped really well although it is only when you become slightly disabled that you realise how much you need all your bits to work well to cope with ‘normal’ life. I am now a dab hand at pulling on socks, slicing up and carrying stuff. Things are taking a bit longer especially as it was her right arm, but she gets there in the end and a couple of extra hours at work means she still manages to get through most of the jobs! Apparently doing things with your left hand improves brain activity and helps stave off senility, if only I had known earlier.
The engineer’s turbine visit went well too. He recalibrated the anemometer on the troublesome third turbine and that seems to have sorted that out at last, but during his inspection of the turbine nearest the house he found a fault which has meant he had to turn it off while they sort out a repair. No word yet on how long this will take but they are trying to rush it through. At least with having three, when one goes down we are still generating from the others but it is frustrating. I wondered whether to suggest that the problem might be in the cables to all three being just too short. When they repair one they pull the cable a bit and it pulls the plug out of the other, which is why only two out of three ever seem to run. I know a lot about turbines me.
Eco News
After years of having an artificial house martins nest on the house which was used every year by house sparrows nesting on top of, it is currently occupied by its first pair of house martins, hurrah.
If you need a fax list please let us know, pick it up from the website or alternately send an email address. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Another month gone and still waiting for the spring sales to get going. It’s early May and I’m sitting in the office in sweatshirt, fleece, coat and woolly hat wondering how the sales are progressing in the nurseries and garden centres. Hopefully the pent up demand for all things green will show its credit card soon and we can sell enough plants to see us through another year. Still there is not much we can do about the weather we just have to make the most of it. I know some suppliers have tried to shift some extra stock by reducing prices but if there is no one on site they are still not going to buy anything and the onl y result will be low sales volumes at lower prices which will only make the situation more difficult.
The rest of the week was full of fun things, the drains had to be cleared, two of the turbines gave up, the carbon monoxide alarm gave us a scare and I failed to master Caroline’s smart-phone. Luckily the drains cleared ok and the alarm just needed replacing. The turbine however needed some technical input which involved a mobile call from in front of the control panel. I borrowed Caroline’s smart-phone having been instructed how to wave at it in a certain way to get it to start up and which bit of the screen to touch to make my call. It was rubbish. By the time I had walked to the turbine I had already accidentally made 2 calls with the phone jiggling in my pocket and the touch screen being so sensitive. I then discovered that I could barely see the screen in the sun (it must have come out one day) but I did manage to dial the technician’s number after overcoming the screens repeated attempts to foil me by registering completely different numbers to those I was pressing. Naturally he was on another call so I left a message and awaited a response. The call eventually came back and where had the green phone symbol gone to pick up the call? Heaven only knows. After pressing just about all the screen I lost the call, not once but three times! Apparently you have to do some sort of flick motion across the screen to answer calls which makes perfect sense. I managed to call him back eventually and made my excuses. Between us we managed to get this turbine going by altering a sensor parameter in the control box, which is a temporary fix until he visits on Wednesday. This got all three going for 2 days before a recurring fault stopped a different turbine. This one looks like it is reading the wrong wind speed as the controls think the wind is too strong when it obviously isn’t. It has been doing this since we had a power surge during a thunderstorm a couple of weeks ago. For a while it just stopped for ten minutes then restarted but now it won’t restart as I suspect it has sussed out that there is a sensor fault. I suppose it is good that it is monitoring these things but it is frustrating when it won’t go. Hopefully the Wednesday visit will sort this problem too.
Great news that Southampton made it back into the Premiership. I celebrated with a pork chop on Saturday night. We know how to party! On Sunday we went to see a young blues musician Ollie Brown at The Brook in Southampton , who was really good and very loud. On Wednesday we went to the Anvil in Basingstoke where Jools Holland was playing the first night of his latest tour. This was a sell out gig unlike the one we were at next door where only 30 people had showed up and 4 went home at the interval! It was a shame for the band (JT and the Clouds) who were from Chicago and very talented. Not quite my cup of tea but Caroline thought they were brilliant. The lack of audience was slightly embarrassing so we all had to be extra enthusiastic to compensate which only exasperated the embarrassment. However a good night was had by all and Caroline now has a new favourite CD.
A highlight from this week was the arrival of a lovely card made by the kids from the local primary school in Sparsholt. We donated a batch of herbs for their school garden and they made the card as a thank you. Who needs money?
Eco News
House martins are back. A group all turned up on Tuesday evening and roosted in the nests on the house.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
The rest of the week was full of fun things, the drains had to be cleared, two of the turbines gave up, the carbon monoxide alarm gave us a scare and I failed to master Caroline’s smart-phone. Luckily the drains cleared ok and the alarm just needed replacing. The turbine however needed some technical input which involved a mobile call from in front of the control panel. I borrowed Caroline’s smart-phone having been instructed how to wave at it in a certain way to get it to start up and which bit of the screen to touch to make my call. It was rubbish. By the time I had walked to the turbine I had already accidentally made 2 calls with the phone jiggling in my pocket and the touch screen being so sensitive. I then discovered that I could barely see the screen in the sun (it must have come out one day) but I did manage to dial the technician’s number after overcoming the screens repeated attempts to foil me by registering completely different numbers to those I was pressing. Naturally he was on another call so I left a message and awaited a response. The call eventually came back and where had the green phone symbol gone to pick up the call? Heaven only knows. After pressing just about all the screen I lost the call, not once but three times! Apparently you have to do some sort of flick motion across the screen to answer calls which makes perfect sense. I managed to call him back eventually and made my excuses. Between us we managed to get this turbine going by altering a sensor parameter in the control box, which is a temporary fix until he visits on Wednesday. This got all three going for 2 days before a recurring fault stopped a different turbine. This one looks like it is reading the wrong wind speed as the controls think the wind is too strong when it obviously isn’t. It has been doing this since we had a power surge during a thunderstorm a couple of weeks ago. For a while it just stopped for ten minutes then restarted but now it won’t restart as I suspect it has sussed out that there is a sensor fault. I suppose it is good that it is monitoring these things but it is frustrating when it won’t go. Hopefully the Wednesday visit will sort this problem too.
Great news that Southampton made it back into the Premiership. I celebrated with a pork chop on Saturday night. We know how to party! On Sunday we went to see a young blues musician Ollie Brown at The Brook in Southampton , who was really good and very loud. On Wednesday we went to the Anvil in Basingstoke where Jools Holland was playing the first night of his latest tour. This was a sell out gig unlike the one we were at next door where only 30 people had showed up and 4 went home at the interval! It was a shame for the band (JT and the Clouds) who were from Chicago and very talented. Not quite my cup of tea but Caroline thought they were brilliant. The lack of audience was slightly embarrassing so we all had to be extra enthusiastic to compensate which only exasperated the embarrassment. However a good night was had by all and Caroline now has a new favourite CD.
A highlight from this week was the arrival of a lovely card made by the kids from the local primary school in Sparsholt. We donated a batch of herbs for their school garden and they made the card as a thank you. Who needs money?
Eco News
House martins are back. A group all turned up on Tuesday evening and roosted in the nests on the house.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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